There's something about Ginny Weasley
by Ickle-Ronnikens
Summary: Set during Half-Blood Prince, slightly alternated storyline, Jimmy Peakes admires Ginny Weasley from afar - but he goes from being a face in the Gryffindor common room, to a team mate, to a friend and to maybe something more ? - Please read and review.
1. The Chaser

There's something about Ginny Weasley

Summary - Set during Half-Blood Prince, slightly alternated storyline, Jimmy Peakes admires Ginny Weasley from afar - but he finds himself going from a face in the Gryffindor common room to being a friend - but does it stop there, or does she come to admire him too?

Disclaimer - I know it might seem like it, but I can definitely assure you I am NOT J.K Rowling.

Please note: the following story takes place during the Half-Blood Prince, and for it to make sense, certain facts from said book have been altered.

01 - The Chaser

'Seriously though, how pretty is she?'

Jimmy Peakes and his best friend Ritchie Coote stood huddled in a corner of the middle courtyard on the ground floor at Hogwarts, waiting for their Transfiguration class to begin; a girl with waist-length silky red hair, pale skin and freckles had just crossed the same courtyard they stood in, desperately late for her class - which being one year older than them, was most likely Charms or Defence Against the Dark Arts, where the classrooms were on the upper levels.

Ginny Weasley disappeared from view up the flight of stairs that were at the opposite end of the courtyard, but Jimmy continued to stare after her, the image in his head of her face had not left him since they had arrived at Hogwarts several weeks ago, and he had seen her getting off the train, smiling brightly and her hair cascading around her.

'She is good-looking,' Ritchie agreed, he was also staring at the point where Ginny had just been, 'but she's also very popular. What chance do you think you have of dating someone like that?'

'I have no chance,' Jimmy said matter-of-factly, 'she's just come out of a relationship with a boy older than her, why would she waste her time with someone younger? Anyway, I'm sure she's not interested in worrying about boys at the moment, studying OWLs must be stressful enough.'

'She fancies Harry Potter though,' Ritchie pointed out, though of course just about everyone in the school knew that. 'What can a short prick like you offer that the Boy-Who-Lived cannot?'

'First of all, screw you,' Jimmy said through gritted teeth, 'secondly, I may be short, but I'm much more broad in the shoulders and chest then him, can you believe how skinny he is?'

'I can't believe you're ignorant enough to worry about what he looks like,' Ritchie said seriously, as he began to absent-mindedly fiddle around in his pockets, 'he's Harry Potter!'

'I know,' Jimmy sighed as Ritchie finally found the Chocolate Frog he had put in his robe pocket yesterday.

'Want some?' he offered to Jimmy, who rolled his eyes.

'No thank you,' he said, turning to look back towards where Ginny had gone, 'those things are going to kill you, I swear.'

'Peakes! Coote!' came a whipping voice through the air.

'Oh no,' they both started, and looked around to see Professor McGonagall standing at the door of the Transfiguration classroom, indicating for them to hurry up.

'Coming Professor!'

They both grabbed their bags and hurried to the classroom.

* * *

A few weeks later, Jimmy and Ritchie were sat by the small circular windows cramped in the corner of the Gryffindor common room, both were attempting to finish their Charms homework due on Monday, both were failing at it miserably.

'I hate this,' Ritchie said furiously, slamming his charms book shut, '"_Explain the Summoning Charm in more detail." _How much more can you explain it, other than "the item on the other side of the room flies over to you"?'

'I don't know.'

Ritchie looked up.

Jimmy, who had done very little homework already that evening, had yet again turned to stare at Ginny on the other side of the room. She was sat in her own little corner doing her own homework, crossed-legged on the floor with her Pygmy Puff bouncing on her shoulder and a spare sugar quill in her mouth.

A smile appeared across Ritchie's face as he leaned forward and said into Jimmy's ear, 'why don't you try and summon her? You could just say you were practicing, hoping to summon something sweet.'

'You can't summon people, Ritchie,' Jimmy said in anger, turning back to his homework, 'and anyway, I'm so bad I couldn't even summon her quill if I wanted too.'

'It just takes practice,' Ritchie explained, who had done it pretty much straight away and had been summoning random pieces of rubbish - which usually littered the common room - all night. 'Would you like me to summon the sugar quill she's sucking on?'

'No!' Jimmy hissed, as Ritchie raised his wand.

Ritchie chuckled and shook his head, putting his wand away and picking his quill back up.

'What are you worried about anyway?' he asked, as Jimmy turned yet again to get a glimpse of the redhead, 'she's sitting on her own, well away from Potter - and her brother for that matter - ask her out.'

'She barely knows me,' Jimmy said longingly.

'True,' Ritchie agreed, 'maybe after tomorrow then, once we've made the Quidditch team. Though if this weather keeps up, we might be getting more than just bludgers to the face.'

They both paused to look out the small window they sat by - several hours ago, they had been able to see the lake quite clearly, and the skies had been a mixture of colours as the sun had set. Now there was only jet blankness, thick rain had been hammering against if for quite a while now and if you listened closely, you could hear wind whipping through the rain.

'It isn't helping my nerves,' said Jimmy sternly, once again turning to face his homework, 'and this is not going to get done tonight, maybe I'll leave it for Sunday if I feel any better.'

Jimmy put everything away into his bag and stood up. 'Night then.'

'Night,' Ritchie nodded, determined to stay put and finish his homework tonight.

Jimmy crossed the room to the boys staircase, and as he did, he glanced one last time in Ginny's direction - but at that exact moment, she happened to look up from her homework too, and caught his gaze. She half-smiled at him, the sugar quill was still between her teeth - Jimmy attempted to be casual, gave her a half-smile back before quickly (but not too quickly) looking away and disappearing up the staircase.

When he got to his dormitory, he closed the door behind him and leaned against it and closed his eyes - his heart was pounding, his mind racing and the image of Ginny's smiling face pierced through the blackness.

* * *

'I don't think I can wait until Thursday.'

It was currently Sunday - yesterday's Quidditch try outs had been a success, both Ritchie and Jimmy had obviously made the team as Beaters, and they were half-celebrating, half-relaxing down by the edge of the lake with the warm sun out. Jimmy was pacing the edge of the water, whilst Ritchie sat on a low rock to the side, his feet dangling into the cool water, and he was reading _the Standard book of Spells: Grade Four_.

After tryouts, Harry had told them all that first practice session would be that very Thursday, and Jimmy was in high spirits about it.

'I still can barely believe we managed to do so well,' Jimmy was saying, still pacing, 'with _her_ watching me and everything.'

'Yeah, yeah, you did fine,' Ritchie said encouragingly, not looking up from his book.

'We both did,' Jimmy pointed out, finally coming to a halt next to his friend, 'but why are you not more excited about this?'

Ritchie shrugged and finally looked up from his book.

'I am,' he said casually, 'I just hide it better than you do.'

'Well clearly,' Jimmy threw his arms in the air and continued pacing.

'You should be doing your homework,' Ritchie said sternly.

'You're starting to sound like my mother,' Jimmy retorted and Ritchie laughed.

'Fair enough, I'll stop,' and he returned to his book.

They fell into silence once more, Jimmy only stopped pacing momentarily to watch the Giant Squid do some sort of pirouette in the shallow waters nearby. He had given up on ever getting his homework done, his mind was far too full of Quidditch and Ginny for him to think clearly, and his solution had been to pace the edge of the lake all day while Ritchie had joined him.

'Hey Ritchie,' Jimmy said suddenly through the silence.

'Hey what?' Ritchie replied.

'Put your book down one moment,' Jimmy demanded, making his friend look up at him reproachfully. 'I need your full attention for this.'

Ritchie bookmarked his place then closed the book and put it aside.

'Now I need to ask for your opinion,' Jimmy had stopped pacing by now, and was looking pretty serious. 'I need you to tell me if this sounds creepy-'

'Yes it does,' Ritchie said firmly, picking his book back up again.

'Be serious,' Jimmy demanded.

'I am being serious,' he said, hiding behind his book again, 'because I have no doubt that whatever it is... as long as you say it, it'll sound creepy.'

'We're on the Gryffindor Quidditch team now,' Jimmy said, as if telling him for the first time, 'and as a member of said team, we share a locker room with our team mates-'

'Here we go,' Ritchie rolled his eyes.

'If another team member is getting undressed,' Jimmy said, biting his lip, 'is it wrong to stare? Or is there a policy somewhere that states we have to look away-?'

'I'm pretty certain there are walls in the locker rooms,' Ritchie informed him, 'though I've not been down there. I would certainly hope they put some sort of barrier between you and the poor girl while she's getting undressed.'

Jimmy's smile widened as he stared at his friend.

'You're picturing it too,' he said happily, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

'You're sick,' Ritchie returned to his book whilst Jimmy roared with laughter.

'Oh my dear friend,' Jimmy managed to say through the laughter, 'there's nothing ill about it, it's perfectly normal for us boys to picture such a pretty lady with very little or no clothes on. It's what we do!'

Ritchie made no motion to retort these words, instead continued to read his book.

'For her sake, let's hope there are walls,' Jimmy agreed several minutes later, 'but if there aren't any, you can bet your entire Chocolate Frog card collection that I'm going to be watching her out of the corner of my eye!'


	2. The Poker Face

02 - The Poker Face

Four days and one detention later, Jimmy was descending the immaculate lawns of Hogwarts with a wide smile across his face and his Nimbus Two-Thousand over his shoulder without a worry in the world. Over his other shoulder, his friend Ritchie followed with his less expensive Cleensweep under his arm pit - together they breathed in the cool, calm air - it was great conditions for flying, no wind, no rain, visibility was high and there was no doubt it would be the perfect start to their year.

Jimmy had insisted they get to the locker rooms early and change, he might have said his reason was to look keen and professional, but Ritchie knew his intensions lay elsewhere. And sure enough, as the rest of the team began to arrive well after they had, Jimmy sat up more pronounced when he saw Ginny, and he gave her the most eager "hello" than he had the rest of them.

But it was very subtle of him - only Ritchie, who knew how Jimmy felt about Ginny and how he had acted thus far, spotted the difference in him.

'Look Ritchie,' Jimmy hissed under his breath as Ginny, Demelza Robbins and Katie Bell all lined up at the lockers opposite them. 'No walls.'

Christmas had come early for Jimmy.

It did indeed seem like the common courtesy clause was in effect, and that they were expected to look away out of respect. But at no time was there ever anything said or done about privacy, and all three of them changed into their Quidditch robes without hesitation, Jimmy watching out of the corner of his eye the whole time.

Though there had been a brief moment, when Ginny had finally sat down in her full gear - with her face a little more pink than usual - she had pushed a strain of hair behind her ear and given Jimmy a certain look, almost as if to say "I know you watched". But whether he was just imagining it or not, Jimmy didn't have time to ponder very long, Harry Potter arrived and instantly captured everyone's immediate attention.

'Alright, folks,' Harry said, as his best friend Ron and keeper came slouching past him and sat the other side of Jimmy and Ritchie, 'conditions are perfect for our first hit out, no need for any instructions this evening, let's just find out how we all work as a team.'

Everyone started nodding and chattering at their approval of this, but Harry grabbed their attention once again by waving his arms.

'Katie, Ginny, Demelza - you three worked really well together in tryouts,' Harry continued, 'after a few weeks of practice, you'll be an unrelenting force. Try not to completely embarrass Ron though, please-'

Everyone but Harry and Ron laughed.

'No, seriously,' Harry went on, 'he needs all the confidence he can get. Jim, Ritchie, I want you two to get the full workout in practice too, but I don't want any injuries - so practice aiming, rather than power, you can go all out once we play Slytherin.'

'Right you are, Captain,' said Jimmy with real enthusiasm, standing up and saluting him.

Everyone laughed again, and Jimmy looked around expectantly to see even Ginny smiling at his antics.

'That's the enthusiasm I've come to love and expect from the Gryffindor Beaters,' Harry said pointedly, 'come on, let's go!'

And they all poured out of the locker room to begin training.

* * *

'I've seen Ginny Weasley in her underwear!'

'A little louder mate. I don't think London quite heard you.'

It was late, very late. Quidditch practice was over hours ago, yet Jimmy and Ritchie had somehow been unable thus far to tear themselves away from the middle of the pitch, where they now lay next to each other, staring up into the abyss. Their only source of light was from the castle up the hill, which lit up only a quarter of the pitch, and so they were pretty much invisible to anyone that might happen to look out the window towards them.

Their blood was still pumping from the excellent session of Quidditch they had had, and despite the fact they knew that they would be paying for it in the morning, they stay laying there, discussing potential tactics for the first game of the year which was approaching fast, and would be against Slytherin. But most of Jimmy's input had been about the fact that he had seen Ginny undress in front of him, and that nothing, not even another detention, could possibly spoil his mood.

But Ritchie was beginning to grow tired of his interjections at this point and suggested that they should really be making their way back to the castle.

'You don't seem to have grasped the magnitude of the occasion, have you Rich?' Jimmy said pointedly, he had been unable to take the grin off his face for a few hours now.

'So you saw her getting change, so what?' Ritchie really didn't see what the big deal was.

'So what?' Jimmy said frustratingly, 'this is the holy grail, mate! Sharing a locker room with the girl of my dreams-'

'You didn't even know she existed a month ago,' Ritchie pointed out quietly.

'Yeah, well, what a month,' Jimmy breathed out deeply, 'did you see the way she looked at me?'

Ritchie didn't answer, he had started fiddling again with the Chocolate Frog card he had found in the pocket of his spare pants he'd put on after training.

'Did you know Merlin was in Slytherin?' Ritchie asked, referring to the card in his hand.

'Yes, you've told me like a thousand times,' Jimmy spat back, lying back down against the cool grass and staring up into the sky.

'I can't stop seeing that smile,' Jimmy went on, putting his hands up behind his head, 'it was right after she played with a little strand of her hair, too, maybe that's one of her tell-tales? I should look out for it-'

'She was probably just realising how much of a creep you are,' Ritchie pointed out to him, 'with you staring at her and everything, I'm surprised she didn't hex you.'

Jimmy wasn't really listening.

'Tuesday feels like ages away from now,' he said, talking about their next training session.

'You should be more careful about how much you stare at this girl,' Ritchie said, finally grasping Jimmy's attention, 'it's quite unlikely that she shares the same feelings you have for her-'

'But she might?' Jimmy debated.

'But more likely not, don't you think?' Ritchie retorted.

Jimmy contemplated this for a moment. 'You never know,' he shrugged.

'And remember she's a Weasley,' Ritchie went on, 'they have quite the reputation of being feisty characters and can be intimidating if they need to be - so you don't want to be giving her reasons to hex you.'

'I might like feisty,' Jimmy said with a smirk that Ritchie did not see.

'Would you like a trip to the Hospital wing as well?' Ritchie asked him seriously, 'because that's what happened to Draco Malfoy last year when he tried to cross her, do you remember?'

Jimmy swallowed nervously. 'That's different though,' he pointed out, 'I'm not Malfoy, and I'm definitely not trying to cross her-'

'I think staring at her whilst she takes her clothes off is theoretically the same thing,' Ritchie explained, 'whether you're in the same room as her or not, the difference is you're trying to look when you should be trying not to.'

'OK I get your point,' Jimmy snapped after finally having enough. 'I'm going to agree that I shouldn't be staring at her, that I shouldn't be goggling after her, that nothing is going to ever happen between us-'

'I never said-' Ritchie started to say, but Jimmy put a hand up.

'But it's not going to stop me from liking her, alright?'

They both fell silent at the sudden tension between them. Jimmy could feel his anger flowing out of him and Ritchie could sense it - usually if things became this unstable between them, they would resort back to talking about Quidditch and return the peace.

'Besides,' Jimmy said finally as Ritchie looked around at him. 'She wouldn't date a worthless Beater like me anyway-'

'You're not worthless.'

Jimmy didn't really want to reply - he picked up his broomstick and put it over her shoulder and began to trudge back to the castle, with Ritchie stumbling in his wake. He tried not to engage in conversation again - he hated acknowledging it when it happened, but his friend was right - counting the hours until he got to see Ginny in her underwear again sounded much worse out-loud that it had in his head - and anyway, amidst all of his staring and admiring, he had forgotten about the fact that there might be consequences for his actions.

Could the same be in store for him, as there had been for Malfoy, if he kept staring at her? Offering no explanation as to why he was doing it? He wondered what he might do if it ever came to that, whether he had the ability in him to tell her how he felt, or whether he'd simply just roll over like a spider with no legs and allow her to hex him.

* * *

Over the next few weeks, Jimmy tried his hardest to put the young redhead out of his mind - he would focus instead on his growing pile of homework during the evenings in the Gryffindor common room, and he would keep both eyes on the Bludger during training, instead of one eye on Ginny as well. Though he managed not to stare at her too much, he could not stop looking at her completely, she was far too pretty - and other than for perhaps a handful of times, he had taken to pointedly look away when the girls arrived for practice on Tuesday's and Thursday's.

Though in his infinite wisdom, he dared to wonder if his sudden disinterest in watching them change out of their clothes would only heighten the chance that Ginny would become suspicious of him.

Ritchie though was quite satisfied that their conversations were no longer consisted up of the day in the life of Ginny Weasley - instead they returned to their former glorious conversations about such things as the abnormality of Professor Snape's nose and racing broom prices in Which Broomstick?

Though he felt a little responsibly for Jimmy's sudden detachment from her, he felt as if heartbreak would have been on the horizon for him anyway; the first Hogsmeade weekend was approaching fast and speculative rumours were going around that Harry Potter was plucking up the courage to ask Ginny to go with him.

All speculative of course, and when Pansy Parkinson was involved, such rumours weren't to be trusted. But it definitely made sense, Harry and Ginny had been seen in heavy proximity of one another in all parts of the castle recently - most likely they were discussing Quidditch tactics, but Ritchie could not help feel as though there was more going on behind the scenes than not.

He did not share these thoughts with Jimmy, instead they spent their time talking about strategies of their own, taking to stalking Slytherin Chasers in the hallways now instead of Gryffindor ones - they would discuss their body shape, their weak points, and how many bludger hits it would take to immobilise them. This sort of dedication even got to the point where Jimmy did not even notice Ginny go pass them one day, as he was so busy studying a Slytherin going in the other direction.

Though curiously, Ginny noticed them and she half-smiled at them for their dedication in learning about the opposition before she continued on her way.


	3. Looks Can Be Deceiving

03 - Looks Can Be Deceiving

The first Hogsmeade visit was in the middle of October, on a stormy Saturday and the heavens appeared to be in an unforgiving mood - when Jimmy and Ritchie walked into the Great Hall for breakfast in the morning, the ceiling (which was enchanted to look like the sky outside) was very dark and the Hall was lit mostly by the candles that lined the walls. When they got out of the castle, it was even darker and it was a very unpleasant journey down the slopes of Hogwarts towards the village below.

Jimmy and Ritchie huddled as close to one another as possible, walking sideways more than forwards through the rapidly growing mounds of sleet, the first snow fall of the year and possibly the most aggressive. But the weather wasn't to blame completely for their foul moods, Hogsmeade village was a shadow of its former self unfortunately, more shops than not had been bordered up and closed due to the growing danger of the outside world.

Even the very popular Zonko's Joke Shop - which both Jimmy and Ritchie had enjoyed immensely last year - and it meant that they were due for a far less enjoyable day than they had planned indeed.

Ritchie had hoped there would be enough things to do and places to go during their trip in order for Jimmy to forget Ginny Weasley. Unbeknown to his best mate, he secretly prayed that if she was at Hogsmeade, that she would be on a date with Harry Potter, and that they would spend all their time at Madam Puddifoot's - the small teashop that was usually occupied by couples - and not bother to show up in the undoubtedly crowded pub the Three Broomsticks.

They made their way towards Honeydukes first, thankfully it was one of the shops not boarded up - but unfortunately due to the limited amount of places you could go, it meant the famous lolly shop was so overflowing with students that it looked impossible to move your elbows, let alone browse and purchase items.

They decided then to make a small detour into the a shop opposite instead - called Gladrag's Wizardwear, which had only a handful of students purchasing new robes to replace old or torn ones - to pass the time.

'I could always do with some new socks,' Jimmy said with a shrug, picking at some pairs that were quite a horrid colour indeed.

They literally walked around in circles within the shop, peering out the window every second lap, waiting for the crowd within Honeydukes to thin. Ritchie actually bought a new pair of socks that looked fairly normal, and Jimmy succumbed to buying a beanie that didn't fit while they waited - eventually becoming concerned that the products they wanted could be sold out before they got there, the two of them trudged back over to Honeydukes and squeezed their way in.

They slowly moved through the crowded room, somehow Ritchie finally came face-to-face with the wall of candy at the other side. He grabbed a basket and began filling it with Chocolate Frogs, before Jimmy reappeared at his shoulder.

'Hey, you remember that cute blonde girl I pointed out to you at breakfast this morning? She totally just had her entire hand on my left butt cheek,' Jimmy hissed in Ritchie's ear, 'does she think I wouldn't notice or what?'

'You really have a problem,' Ritchie hissed, now counting his money to make sure he had enough for the Chocolate Frog's.

'Look who's talking,' Jimmy retorted, indicating the basket which was overflowing, 'I keep telling you, you're never going to find someone who has that Cornelius Agrippa card, let alone find one in a pack-'

'It could happen,' Ritchie was hopeful, and while he knew spending most of his money on Chocolate Frogs was quite a waste, he still went through with it anyway.

This meant that he watched on jealously as Jimmy browsed an assortment of lollies and chocolate, choosing at will what he found particularly inviting, and even having the tenacity to ask Ritchie for help in choosing either chocolate flavoured or strawberry flavoured Drooble's Blowing Gum. Eventually having tortured Ritchie enough, Jimmy made his purchases and lead the way out of the shop.

'To the Three Broomsticks then?' Jimmy practically yelled through the white wind whilst he pointed in the general direction of where he thought the pub was.

Ritchie agreed, though visibility was so poor, they weren't exactly sure the way they were going was the right way - forward movement was still slow and rather all over the place, and they took to following other students with their heads bowed against the wind, simply praying that they were headed in the same direction as them. When they eventually managed to find the correct door to their destination, they scrambled through it, bending over on the threshold, absolutely exhausted.

The Three Broomsticks was warm, and smelled strongly of Butterbeer - it took both Jimmy and Ritchie to a few moments to regain their senses, the room was spinning for them, and it didn't help that they had to do a couple of laps of the crowded pub until they found a spare table at the back somewhere.

'My shout then?' Jimmy said in amusement, knowing well and good that he'd just watch Ritchie (who sat down miserably) spend all of his Galleons on Chocolate.

He returned shortly with two large mugs of Butterbeer and he handed one to his friend. They both took a sip in earnest at the same time, and instantly they could feel the warmth returning to their bodies - slowly everything in the room made sense, they began to feel like themselves again, as if their souls had been sucked out centuries ago and finally put back in again.

'Guess who I saw up the front, ordering two drinks?' Jimmy asked his friend curiously after a pause of letting this feeling settle in.

'Oh no-' Ritchie said under his breath, feeling his stomach drop.

He had been afraid of this - encountering her could be the trigger for him to start talking about her again, for him to spend the next month, day in and day out until Christmas listing nothing but the measurements of her bust, waist and hips.

'It was Harry,' Jimmy said, looking puzzled at Ritchie's reaction, 'Harry Potter - and he wasn't sitting with his two friends, he was sitting with-'

_Here it comes,_ Ritchie thought miserably.

'-Loony-Lovegood!' Jimmy let out a evil cry of laughter which attracted the attention of some scared looking Hufflepuff's nearby.

'Loony- really?' Ritchie was suddenly very intrigued.

'No doubt about it,' Jimmy said with a nod of his head, 'she ordered a Gillywater and everything.'

'Harry Potter and Loony-Lovegood,' Ritchie repeated, barely able to believe what he was saying, 'but that means-'

'Peeves will have a field day with that one,' Jimmy pointed out, making Ritchie roar with laughter.

Now in much better spirits, the both forgot about Harry and Luna and even Ginny and went on to talk about Quidditch, as the two young Wizards normally did in each other's company. One thing was for sure, as best mates they knew each other well, if conversation ever went pear-shaped, they could always fall back onto Quidditch, whether it be of Hogwarts standard or International standard.

Over the next half-hour or so, they had each consumed one and a half mugs of Butterbeer, whilst Ritchie had absent-mindedly been opening Chocolate Frog cards, searching for the very one that continued to eluded him. Their laughter carried throughout the pub, only Professor Slughorn a couple of tables over out bellowed them - he appeared to have found a drinking partner in the form of Rubeus Hagrid and they both looked rather drunk, as it wasn't just Butterbeer they were drinking.

Jimmy was about to suggest that he go and buy them another Butterbeer each, when a distraction in the form of Ginny Weasley appeared, curiously attracted to their laughter which had grown louder and louder as they discussed possible ways for the Chudley Cannons to finish ninth again this season.

'Hello boys,' she said, appearing from nowhere at Jimmy's shoulder and forcing him to stop mid-laugh and do a double-take.

A sudden swooshing sensation filled in his stomach, as though he missed a step going downstairs.

'Hi,' was all Jimmy managed to squeak out of the side of his mouth.

'What's so funny over here then?' she demanded to know with a wry smile, looking between them, the several empty Butterbeer mugs on the table and the pile of opened and unopened Chocolate Frog cards scattered around it.

'Hi Ginny,' Ritchie said finally, giving Jimmy a stern look, 'we're just talking Quidditch.'

'Oh,' she seemed disheartened, as if hopeful that it would be something much more mouth watering, 'mind if I join the conversation with you guys?'

'But, to what do we owe such a pleasure?' Jimmy asked, finally speaking properly.

'No particular reason,' Ginny said calmly, sitting down in the spare seat, 'does a girl need a reason to sit and relax with a couple of her team mates?'

'Absolutely not,' Jimmy announced to the world, holding a finger up as if to make a statement, before nervously draining the rest of his Butterbeer.

'Good.'

There was a pause, where the three sat in an awkward silence. Ritchie thought perhaps they should resume their discussions on Quidditch, as that usually cured it, but Jimmy - who was not very good with awkward silences - bounced to his feet before he could say anything and pointed to the two of them in turn.

'Butterbeer? Butterbeer?'

'Yes please,' Ginny nodded, Ritchie nodded also.

'Three Butterbeers,' Jimmy yelled over some heads, as if Madam Rosmerta was waiting for his order.

He turned away, and Ginny giggled a little - Ritchie thought at first it was a false laugh, and when she turned back to face him, her smile stayed, but she was definitely thinking about something else and Ritchie knew he had to say something.

'Are you really here because we're team mates?,' he asked, 'or - and you can be honest here - or are you actually just sitting with us because Harry's sitting over there with Luna, and we're the last resort?'

Ginny sighed.

'Am I that obvious?' she yielded, slouching in her seat and propping her elbow up on the table and putting her head in her hand.

'No, I guessed,' Ritchie lied with a shrug, though Ginny appreciated it all the same with a smile.

'I tried to sit with Ron and Hermione,' she tried to explain, 'but they bicker far too much, so I followed the laughter-'

'And what of Demelza Robbins?' Ritchie asked curiously, 'you two are friends aren't you-?'

'Busy also,' Ginny indicated over her shoulder with her thumb to where the young Chaser was mouth-to-mouth with some random boy Ritchie did not recognise.

'I see,' Ritchie nodded his head and paused, waiting for something to be said, before deciding he may as well ask her.

'I hope you don't mind me asking,' he said cautiously, 'but, from the past couple of weeks, the amount of times I saw you and Harry together in the corridors, well I naturally presumed that...'

Ritchie trailed away, unsure where to go from there, he didn't want to be the one to say it.

'He mostly talked about Luna, actually,' Ginny explained, 'asked me if I would mind if he asked her out, wasn't quite sure why he needed my permission, but I told him to go for it. And then I proceeded to give him every bit of knowledge I have on her to help.'

'Well,' Ritchie tried to find the positive, 'it shows that he values your opinion highly, even if he is thick enough not to notice someone like you right in front of him.'

'It's sweet of you to say that, but,' Ginny shrugged, 'I don't hate him for it, and I don't need to hear that he's thick or anything - I'm happy for them, really. Luna deserves to be lucky for once, I will just have to find someone else one day, amongst this lot...'

Just as she finished that sentence, Jimmy reappeared with immaculate timing, a giant smile etched across his face as he handed them both a Butterbeer.

'Took your sweet time,' Ritchie snapped, taking his drink and sipping it too.

'Hey, I did my best... I might have stopped to tell a joke alright-?' Jimmy snapped back.

Ritchie stared at him in disbelief.

'Not the one about the hag, the Healer and the _Mimbulus mimbletonia_?' Ritchie pleaded, but the look on Jimmy's face told it all.

'Madam Rosmerta appreciated it at least,' Jimmy said, bringing his drink to his lips, 'even if you don't.'

And as he took a drink, and Ritchie put his head in his hands, Ginny looked from one to the other and asked, 'wait, what's joke?'

'Trust me Ginny, you don't want to know,' Ritchie insisted, ignoring Jimmy, 'but on to more pressing matters, where do you believe the Chudley Cannons will finish this year? Ninth again do you think?'


	4. Study Buddies

04 - Study Buddies

The fact that Harry Potter and Luna Lovegood were dating did not turn out to be the biggest news sweeping Hogwarts the next day. Both Jimmy and Ritchie were both shocked to hear that fellow Gryffindor and Quidditch team mate Katie Bell had been cursed on her way back from Homemade, and taken to St Mungo's Hospital. Though no one appeared to fully know what had happened, this left a lot of the younger students in particular quite frightened and it was instantly noticeable that security had tightened within the castle as well.

It definitely put a halt to the euphoria for Jimmy, after he had been on such a high since yesterday when he and Ritchie had managed to kindle a beginning of a friendship with Ginny Weasley during the several hours of conversation in the Three Broomsticks. He had caught himself being very selfish, wishing that he could bask in the glory of spending his entire Saturday talking freely and openly about Quidditch with the girl he had a crush on instead of being terribly worried for Katie.

'Maybe there's a little human decency left in you after all,' Ritchie had said after he confided this to him.

In the weeks following the incident with Katie, many of the younger students preferred to travel in packs from class to class, vying for the old saying of safety in numbers. But unfortunately this left them vulnerable to Peeves, who considered the opportunity too good to miss, and he was seen spending most of his days following behind these packs and throwing Dungbombs into the middle of them.

'Look at the ickle-first-years scram!' he shrieked in happiness, following the screams of the first-years up and down the corridors.

'I understand why they are still frightened,' Jimmy said casually to Ritchie after they witnessed Peeves do this to one petrified looking group of Ravenclaws. 'But they must forget where they are sometimes. Hogwarts is as safe as you can get, you're not going to get cursed inside these walls.'

'It almost happened,' Ritchie pointed out, 'she was on her way into Hogwarts, wasn't she?'

'Doesn't matter,' Jimmy said, 'it didn't happen inside these walls and it never will.'

'They don't seem so certain,' Ritchie pointed out, as yet another group of second-year students, this time all girls, passed by them in the other direction with Peeves tailing not far behind them, armed at the ready.

As they ascended to Gryffindor tower to fetch their broomsticks in anticipation of Quidditch practice, they did stumble across one young first-year girl who did not appear to be travelling with friends in a pack. She had stopped by the tapestry that depictured dancing Trolls, and appeared to be struggling to keep a grip on the brass scales that were almost as large as her.

Being the perfect gentleman they were, Jimmy and Ritchie went straight past without a second glance, and came face to face with the Fat Lady.

'Dilligrout,' Jimmy said before turning to Ritchie, 'I have to say, I'm quite nervous about tonight - Ginny sort of knows us now, I don't think I could get away with staring at her as much.'

'So don't stare then,' Ritchie suggested, climbing through the portrait first.

'Why would I not?' Jimmy debated.

And the debate continued, all the way up to their dormitory, and then all the way back down through the castle and the front lawns. The winds from the fierce storm they had had two weeks ago still lingered, so it was still a little blustery for practice, but the sun was out, much of the snow that littered the grounds had gone and the temperature was just right for the early evening.

It was the first practice session since Katie had been cursed, Harry had explained to the group briefly in the days after that he was not yet prepared to count her out of their next match just yet, and so they would be practicing as usual but with one Chaser short. But as the first game of the season against Slytherin was fast approaching, their predicament was, would the team be affected by having one short during practice?

Quite a while after Jimmy and Ritchie had changed into their Quidditch robes, Ginny arrived, a wry smile spread across her face when she saw them. Just like it had in Hogsmeade, Jimmy's stomach gave an almighty lurch as if he'd missed a step on a flight of stairs, and could scarcely manage a half-smile back as Ginny moved to her locker and prepared to change.

'Aren't you both very keen?' she said in amusement, beginning to take off her school robes. 'I haven't really seen you two much since Hogsmeade, how have you been?'

Ritchie glanced sideways at his friend, Jimmy seemed incapable of responding, his hands were on his knees and his knuckles were very white - Ginny was standing there so casually, in just her underwear.

'We're good,' Ritchie said finally, deciding to talk for both of them, he was careful to keep eye contact however briefly, 'we've been busy with homework, I'm sure you understand, you're taking your OWLs.'

'It's a nightmare,' Ginny assured him, nodding and turning away from them to fetch her Quidditch robes from her locker.

Jimmy took this ample opportunity to lean sideways toward Ritchie.

'Dude, plain white underwear,' he said ecstatically whilst Ritchie shook his head at him, 'nice!'

Ginny turned back around just in time to miss Jimmy lean back into position; both boys pretended to be mindlessly tapping their clubs on the backs of their legs and looking pointedly at the floor.

'Maybe we could study together one night,' she suggested, making them both look up at her, 'help each other out if we can?'

Jimmy and Ritchie both nodded their agreement, but were rather unsure what to say next. It deemed appropriate however that the rest of the team suddenly arrived, and before they knew it, they were flying out against the cool winds.

* * *

'Will you get these off the table please? You're going to get chocolate all over my essay!'

It was the week before the first Quidditch match of the season, Jimmy and Ritchie sat in their little corner in the Gryffindor common room, huddled together, attempting a last ditch effort to complete their essays on the Goblin Rebellion for History of Magic. Ritchie had just emptied the last of his unopened Chocolate Frogs onto the small table they shared, which two long parchments, three large books and an assortment of smaller and less-detailed books already occupied.

It might have been early in the evening, but as their essay's were due in tomorrow, and they had barely even started, a long night and short tempers ensured.

'Where else am I going to put them, Jimmy?' he asked matter-of-factly, 'on the floor?'

'How about back in your bag?' Jimmy suggested strangely, as if he could barely believe Ritchie did not think of this as the obvious solution. 'If we were doing an essay on public figures featured on Chocolate Frog cards then yes, obviously it would be appropriate, but not for Goblins-'

'These are all I have left,' Ritchie gestured to the two dozen or so now scattered across their table, 'I want to get through them whilst we work - you're very welcome to have one if you like.'

Jimmy gave them a such a reproachful look, it was as if they had just insulted his mother.

'If I eat one more of those things, I'll die of poisoning,' Jimmy hissed through gritted teeth.

About an hour went by without much more of an argument, they did talk however as they attempted to band together a single essay between them, so that one of them could add synonym here and there, so that they did not look too identical. But just when they had began to make even the slightest of in-roads, a delightful smell filled their nostrils, forcing them to look up and find the source of it.

'Oh my,' came a voice from somewhere behind them, 'which one of you has the chocolate addiction then?'

Ginny suddenly came into view, she had her backpack over her shoulder and was dragging a chair with her - a sweet smile appeared on her face as she sat down opposite and pulled her bag off her back and on the floor in front of her.

'Hi,' she said sweetly, pulling a book out of her bag and placing it on her knees.

'Ginny,' Jimmy breathed, his mind boggled very briefly, having just been thinking about Goblins.

'Thought we could be study buddies!' she said happily, before staring down at the limited space available on the table. 'Seriously though, what's with all the chocolate?'

'That'd be me,' Ritchie said sourly, making Ginny look at him, 'though it's not the chocolate I'm addicted too, or else I'd be as round as I am tall. I'm after the cards you see? I only need one more to complete the collection.'

Ginny raised an eyebrow. 'Impressive,' she said and Jimmy snorted. 'Which one do you need?'

'Cornelius Agrippa,' Ritchie said even more sourly, 'German bastard's been mocking me for two years now.'

'Ah yes, him,' Ginny nodded slowly, unfolding her book, 'yes, my dear brother needs him too. He needs quite a few of them though, if I remember correctly, and he'd be disappointed in me if I didn't try one of these-'

Without waiting for approval, she took a Chocolate Frog from the pile not yet opened, and opened it.

'Merlin,' Ginny sighed after she had bitten into the chocolate.

'What's wrong?' Jimmy asked suddenly, alarmed.

'That's who I got,' Ginny managed to say after swallowing the chocolate, 'see?'

She held up the card which, although clearly had "Merlin" written across the bottom, the portrait was empty.

'He's gone,' Ritchie said with amusement, turning back to his homework.

'Oh,' Ginny turned it back over to look at it, before placing it back on the table.

'You can keep it if you want,' Ritchie said to her without looking up, 'I have about a thousand of everyone already, no need for doubles.'

'So what subject are you boys working on?' Ginny asked, deciding to pick up one of their books to give room for herself.

'History of Magic,' Jimmy answered, because Ritchie was bent over and writing furiously, 'we've got an essay due tomorrow on the Goblin Rebellion, we don't fully understand it really-'

'Were getting there though,' Ritchie said positively, his head still bowed over his parchment.

'Which rebellion in particular?' Ginny asked.

Both Jimmy and Ritchie stopped; and then if in slow motion, fear set in and they looked up at her with the most puzzled of looks.

'There's more than one?' the both said in unison, forcing Ginny to stifle a giggle.

'Yes,' she said seriously, 'there were a series of them, didn't you know?'

Ritchie suddenly threw his quill down in anger, making Ginny jump a little - Jimmy merely looked down at his parchment, which had hardly been written anyway, and sighed.

'Maybe you two do need my help,' Ginny said, biting her lip and forcing herself not to laugh too hard.

'You know, it's a good thing we're playing our first game this week,' Ritchie said loudly, so that even a few other Gryffindor's nearby heard and looked around.

'I'm just going to walk out without padding on and without my bat on Saturday and pray the Bludger is strong enough to crack this thick skull of mine.'


	5. Are You Feeling Lucky?

05 - Are You Feeling Lucky?

Ginny Weasley was a blessing.

She had somehow managed to help both Jimmy and Ritchie rewrite their essays for History of Magic and scrape in an Exceed Expectations mark, meaning they avoided inevitable detention, and meaning they would be available to fly out to play for Gryffindor with the rest of the team that coming Saturday.

'And I'll get to watch her change into her Quidditch uniform as well,' Jimmy had added inappropriately.

It appeared not to be a one off, either, for the rest of the week she sat with them, talking about homework, Quidditch tactics and hexes her twin brothers Fred and George had taught her to potentially take out players from the Slytherin team. They had no idea where her sudden interest in them came from - other than perhaps the Saturday in Hogsmeade where they had spent the entirety of it drinking Butterbeer and talking Quidditch, they rarely saw one another - but nevertheless, they went along with it and enjoyed her company all the same, she was intelligent after all and often picked up on their mistakes.

After finally acknowledging that Katie Bell indeed would not be returning to Hogwarts before their first game of the season, Harry, entrusted with the Captaincy, had decided to skip another tryout fiasco and picked Dean Thomas as temporary replacement (he did fly the best out of the rest at tryouts the start of the year). This meant that he only had one week to train with the team, but surprisingly it went well, despite the fact that they had split at the start of the year, there appeared to be no lingering hate between he and Ginny.

Jimmy hadn't been too pleased at all with the idea, despite having to acknowledge also that Dean worked pretty well with them.

'I'm not happy about this, Rich,' Jimmy hissed through gritted teeth, glaring at Ginny, Dean and Demelza ascending the lawns of Hogwarts a little bit in front of them, their last practice before Saturday's game had just ended. 'Look at him, laughing at everything Ginny says, like he still thinks he can get her back-'

'You sound like she's _your_ girlfriend,' Ritchie pointed out, it had all been quite the chuckle for him.

Jimmy hesitated. 'I just don't want to see her get hurt again,' he said clearly.

'So you're more like a brother to her then, are you?' Ritchie said in amusement. 'Speaking of her brother, I'm more unhappy with him being on our team at the moment than Dean-'

'Why?' Jimmy asked, not taking his gaze off of the three figures in front of them.

'He's useless,' said Ritchie, 'he didn't save a single thing tonight, weren't you watching?'

Jimmy didn't respond; instead he quickened his pace when the three figures up ahead became silhouettes and they disappeared into the Entrance Hall.

'Of course you weren't,' Ritchie answered for him, putting in longer strides to keep up. 'It's because he's the Captain's best friend, it doesn't matter that he couldn't catch a beach ball, or that he snaps at other team mates when things are going wrong. He's Potter's mate, and that's the end of it-'

The both stumbled up the steps in their haste, causing Ritchie to stop mid-sentence. When they got into the Entrance hall, Jimmy quickly looked up the main staircase, it was empty.

'Where did they go?' Jimmy snapped, looking from the staircase, to the doors of the Great Hall, to a broom cupboard in the corner.

'Common room, I expect,' Ritchie said casually, walking past his mate who stood still and beginning to ascend the staircase, 'let's just go.'

'They had better not be getting back together,' Jimmy told Ritchie unhappily, following him up the staircase, 'it would be just like my luck, to finally have her within my grasp, only for her to be taken swiftly away from me.'

'Well let's hope that your _luck _is a bit better on Saturday,' Ritchie said, 'and that we all get a little _lucky_, because we're going to need everything we can get to beat Slytherin.'

* * *

The day of the first Quidditch match of the year finally arrived and the school was abuzz with excitement in the early parts of the morning. Both Jimmy and Ritchie woke very early, unable to sleep, and instead they lay quietly talking to each other so as to not to wake their fellow dorm mates; they discussed patterns and tactics that they would put into place for the day and hopefully help them get that victory.

Eventually, when their dormitories became much lighter, they made their way down to breakfast, determined to get at least some food down for their strength.

Though they had seen it happen to others in the years previous, it was still a hair-on-the-back-of-the-neck feeling walking into the Great Hall and receiving a round applause (and an occasional "boo" from the Slytheirns) from those who were up as early as them and at the Gryffindor table. Jimmy at first had thought someone more important than them from the team was behind them and when he realised it was indeed for them, he felt a little weird.

He had the same feeling of sensation in his stomach as he did when Ginny smiled at him, and could only nervously acknowledge their applause with a wave as he took a seat with Ritchie at the table.

After receiving a few jibes of "good luck" from surrounding students that were not just Gryffindor's, they ate what they could muster and then joined in when the much louder and much longer applause rang out for Harry Potter's arrival, his mate Ron in his wake. He acknowledged them slightly, before stopping at Jimmy and Ritchie to pat them on the back and ask them how they were going and were they ready.

There was one more murmur of applause when the rest of the team arrived, including Ginny, but the biggest cheer yet was at the end of breakfast, as Harry stood, beckoned his team loudly to follow, and the Great Hall erupted. Jimmy and Ritchie were the last to leave the Great Hall and they both had huge smiles spread across their faces as the large doors closed behind them.

'I don't know what it is,' Ritchie said to Jimmy, as they walked behind their team mates across the Entrance Hall, 'but I have this feeling inside my gut, there's something about today, I don't know what it is, but it's a good feeling more than a bad one.'

Before Jimmy could reply, a loud roar made everyone in the Entrance Hall jump, including the Quidditch team. Hurried footsteps could be heard bouncing off the high walls, and everyone looked up to see Luna Lovegood descending the marble staircase, wearing her obnoxious life-sized lion's head hat, and making a beam line for Harry.

She flung her arms around him and kissed him firmly on the mouth, whilst the rest of the Quidditch team filtered around them and out into the grounds. Jimmy noticed that Ginny in particular stared at the two them for a little bit longer than anyone else, and whether there was jealousy in those eyes or not he was not sure, he put it to the back of his mind quickly, intending to think about it later.

Ritchie's comment about having a good feeling in the pit of his stomach appeared to be spreading through everyone like wildfire descending the lawns to the Quidditch stadium - conditions were ideal, the sun was out, and late news had came in that a Slytherin Chaser had not healed from being knocked out at training. It really started to become suspicious when the Captain himself - Draco Malfoy - had deemed himself far too sick to play.

'Who?' Jimmy had asked after Ritchie had told him this, just as Ginny had began to open her locker and pull her Quidditch robes on.

Jimmy and Ritchie both had butterflies in their stomach as they stood with their brooms over their shoulders, waiting to walk out onto the pitch.

'Hey,' came a small voice from behind them, and Ginny squeezed herself between the two. 'Nervous?'

They both nodded without a word.

'You boys will do fine,' she said in a very reassuring way, 'just have fun, and good luck.'

And as Ginny leant up to kiss them both on the cheek in turn, Jimmy was only half-aware that the doors in front of them suddenly flew open and blinded them with bright sunshine. As the rest of the team around them mounted their brooms, Ritchie nudged Jimmy back to reality, and they took off after their team and onto the pitch.

* * *

'Smells a bit fishy, doesn't it?' Ritchie said, 'Malfoy deciding not to play and all. I saw him at breakfast, he looked OK to me.'

Jimmy and Ritchie lay in the exact same positions as they had on the night of their first ever practice session. Gryffindor had won the match, quite easily as a matter of fact, after it seemed apparent from the very first whistle that they could do no wrong; Ginny, Demelza and Dean all scored a combined one hundred points to nothing before Harry had caught the Snitch and won the game from right under the opposing Seeker's nose.

Ritchie had been clutching at straws about where all of today's luck had suddenly come from, he talked about the possibility of conspiracy theories, involvements of werewolves and - what was probably the most likely of all his scenarios - it had been the start of a long-winded plan by Lord Voldemort to get to Harry somehow. Truthfully, he was trying to find a way around the fact that Ron, the Keeper, had come good in such a quick turnaround, right after he, Ritchie, had declared him useless not two nights ago.

'It might be luck,' Jimmy debated, 'it might be any one of those things,' he said also, 'but who cares? Just ride the wave mate, victory is awesome.'

Ritchie fell silent - he could at least agree to that.

He shifted his gaze towards the castle, and to one of the higher towers, where the rest of Gryffindor were undoubtedly celebrating said victory without the slightest bit of curiosity on how they'd managed it so easily.

'Do you think they notice we aren't there?' Ritchie asked him after several minutes of silence.

'Who?' Jimmy asked back.

Ritchie pointed to Gryffindor tower - it was easy to spot in the dark, it was the only tower on the castle that had multi-coloured lights pouring from its windows.

'Probably not,' Jimmy shrugged.

'Should we head back then?' Ritchie asked hesitantly. 'I don't think I've ever walked into a room, knowing that you're going to get bombarded-'

'You go,' Jimmy urged to him, 'I'd rather do without the attention, when there's a chance I might find them kissing in a corner somewhere.'

Ritchie's automatic response to this might have been to ask who he meant by "them", but he had a sneaking suspicious he knew what Jimmy meant.

'I'm just going to lie here, and picture her in her skins forever.'

Eventually, after a lot of rambling to one another about what they should do, they finally decided to return to the Gryffindor common room. But it was too late, it seemed, for in the time that it took them to make up their minds, the party had well and truly dispersed - most likely because Professor McGonagall had not wanted the celebrations to go on all night, and had put an end to it.

'To be honest,' Ritchie said as they made their way up the boys staircase to their dormitory, 'I'm quite glad I didn't have to put up with Colin Creevy asking for a blow-by-blow analysis of the match from my point of view.'

'He will no doubt ask still, but in the morning,' Jimmy pointed out, making Ritchie groan.

The other boys in their year had not taken to continuing any sort of parties in their dormitory, as the curtains around all their four-posters were drawn, and heavy breathing filled the otherwise silent air. So Jimmy and Ritchie quietly bid each other a good night and twitched the hangings of their four-poster to block out the ray of moonlight covering the room.

Ritchie fell asleep almost instantly, but Jimmy lay-back against his pillow and stared at the ceiling for quite a while before sleeping. His thoughts were of Ginny, obviously, but they were mixed and unclear - had she and Dean got back together tonight? Could the fact that Dean being put onto the Quidditch team, and them winning their first game so easily, return any sort of spark that might still linger between them?

There was no way of knowing if any of this was true tonight though, but if they had, and he'd lost his chance with her, Jimmy would hate himself for being so reluctant; he and Ritchie had just began to grow a friendship with the redhead, she might even have said "yes" if he'd had the balls to ask her to the next Hogsmeade visit, even if that had meant going as friends, with Ritchie in tow.


	6. We're Just Friends

06 - We're Just Friends

Jimmy and Ritchie were just about the only people awake so early on the Sunday following the game against Slytherin, covered from head to toe in thick woolly clothing, they were ascending to the dizzy heights of the castle, to the room at the very peak on the place, the Owlery. Snow was swirling against the freezing cold windows of Hogwarts yet again and with Christmas fast approaching, it almost certainly meant the end of any good weather left before the holidays.

Jimmy was very annoyed with his friend for dragging him out of his warm toasty bed so early in the morning and forcing him to go walk through the freezing cold castle, with no explanation, and no evidence that he couldn't have just done whatever it is they were doing on his own.

'I did not wake you,' Ritchie pointed out, 'I was quiet, you woke up all by yourself - I was about to walk out the dormitory - you're the one who asked where I was going, and the one who insisted in coming along when I would not tell you-'

'Yeah, well,' Jimmy decided that he didn't have a counter-argument to this, because it was literally true, 'what _are _we doing, anyway? You never told me-'

Ritchie let out a long sigh as they ascended the narrow steps into the Owlery, which was much more opened to the elements than the castle corridors, and made them both shiver upon entry.

'I'm just sending an owl, nothing special,' Ritchie said, hoping Jimmy would not interrogate him much further.

'To whom though?' Jimmy demanded, making Ritchie grit his teeth as he looked up and searched for an owl amongst the brown and grey that were awake and ready for a journey.

'No one important,' Ritchie snapped back, 'it's just a Christmas thing, alright?'

'Oh,' Jimmy nodded and fell silent.

They both watched as a random barn owl came fluttering down to sit on the perch beside them, and offered it's leg unceremoniously.

'But you're going home for Christmas,' Jimmy said after suddenly remembering this. Ritchie was having a hard time tying the scroll of parchment to the owl, giving Jimmy more time to talk. 'And I don't see any packages- so what could you possibly-? Wait a minute-'

Ritchie continued to stay silent and stare down at the owl, just as he finally managed to tie a fairly acceptable knot.

'Is that-?' Jimmy pointed to the owl, which Ritchie picked up and carried over to the window, 'a mail order?'

Ritchie let the owl fly off into the sky, poor visibility meant that it disappeared from view almost immediately, and Ritchie turned around to face Jimmy who had an expression on his face that said "I don't believe it".

'An order for two boxes of Chocolate Frogs, yes,' he said shamefully, making Jimmy shake his head.

'You definitely have a problem.'

A noise behind them made them both turn on the spot to see someone else had ascended the steps into the Owlery and had stopped at the sight of them.

'Oh, hi.'

It was of course Ginny; she looked a little windswept, her face was pink, her silky red hair was sticking out in places it ought not to be and just like them, about every part of her body was covered in thick woolly clothing.

'Are you OK?' Jimmy asked curiously, and he even took a semi-step forward in concern, 'you don't look-'

'Oh I'm fine,' she ensured, smiling and moving past them to beckon an owl down for herself, 'just a little tired and a little cold, but I'll be alright. What brings you two to the Owlery so early?'

Ritchie had been hoping to avoid telling Jimmy about the frogs, he definitely wanted to avoid anyone else knowing about it - though unfortunately, before he could open his mouth to deflect the conversation, his best friend, who had no sense of humility toward anyone except for himself and perhaps more recently Ginny, beat him to the punchline, seemingly determined to let the rest of the world know of his addiction.

'Ritchie's out of chocolate frogs,' Jimmy said flatly, putting his hands in his pockets and biting his lip.

'So you're sending for more?' Ginny asked him in disbelief, 'Ritchie, you know you have a serious problem, right?'

Ritchie felt his face go red in embarrassment, any warm blood he had left filled his cheeks and he began to feel lightheaded; he waited for Ginny to turn her back on them before punching Jimmy in the arm.

'Ouch! Hey, what was that-?'

'And what brings you here?' Ritchie asked Ginny quickly, giving Jimmy a reproachful stare of warning before focusing back on Ginny, who had noticed nothing.

'My mother,' Ginny said flatly, a real tone of inconvenience in her voice, 'I continue to make the mistake of promising her at the start of every term that I would owl her, at least every now then, about how I'm going-'

'Personal stuff,' Ritchie nodded and Ginny shrugged.

'Boring stuff,' Ginny corrected him, releasing the owl out the window, it disappeared almost immediately just like Ritchie's owl had.

Ginny stood at the window staring out of it anyway, whilst Jimmy was still rubbing his arm and giving Ritchie filthy looks.

'So have fun at the party last night?' Ritchie asked her casually, keen to get the subject as far away from Chocolate Frogs as possible.

'I suppose,' Ginny shrugged, turning back to face them, 'honestly I think the win was better than the party- which reminds me, where were you two hiding last night? I wanted celebratory hugs from each of you, what gives?'

'Oh,' Ritchie and Jimmy looked at each other, 'you noticed we weren't there then-?'

'We thought maybe you'd be too busy celebrating with the others, like Harry, and your brother and... and Dean...' Jimmy trailed off cautiously, wondering if he would get some sort of response out of her.

'Dean?'

Ginny let out a derisive laugh that made the hairs on the back of Jimmy's neck stand up.

'From what I saw, he had too many shots of Firewhiskey and spent the night trying to hit on some second-years,' she said in a voice that sounded very judgemental.

Ritchie looked positively scandalised at this piece of information, Jimmy tried to look alarmed also, but inside he was suddenly laughing maniacally.

'Let's not talk about Dean,' Ginny requested, as she lead them out of the Owlery, 'come, you're both to sit with me at breakfast, I'll grow bored otherwise.'

'If you say so,' said Jimmy merrily, bounding after her, he was suddenly enriched with the energy of a toddler on sugar.

He looked back at Ritchie positively beaming, he seemed to have enjoyed the way Ginny had reacted to him bringing up Dean. He was in high spirits all the way down to the Great Hall, where they talked freely and loudly along the deserted corridors - they discussed the game, Ritchie was pleased to hear that Ginny too had noticed how weird the day went and how lucky they had all been. Though her expression changed a little when he began to talk about conspiracy theories, and Jimmy had to kick him in the shin to shut him up and move the topic back onto Quidditch.

Though it was still early, their long walk through the castle meant that when they arrived in the Great Hall it was not completely empty; many of the teachers, mainly Hagrid, were placing the usual twelve Christmas trees around the Great Hall. Professor Flitwick and Professor McGonagall were adding the usual decorations to the trees, as well as the rest of the hall, whilst other teachers had been sent throughout the castle to add garlands of holly and tinsel to ever stairwells and pillars they could reach.

As Jimmy, Ritchie and Ginny sat at the empty Gryffindor table, they watched in amusement as Peeves grabbed an end of one of the tinsels and began to wrap it around the short stature of Professor Flitwick, cackling madly as his did it; Professor McGonagall ran over to help just as Peeves finished placing a glowing star on Flitwick's head and whisked away, singing his version of Christmas Carols that were littered with rude words.

'I forgot how close it is to Christmas,' Ginny said on the back of this, once Professor McGonagall had managed to free the Charms teacher. 'Are you two staying or going home for Christmas?'

'Going home,' they said in unison, but Jimmy added, 'but I'm subject to change - what are you doing?'

'Going home,' Ginny nodded, 'mum has practically insisted this year, most of my family will be at home, anyway.'

Jimmy nodded but looked a little disheartened - he would probably have stayed at the drop of a hat if she had been too.

'I'm looking forward to it, actually,' Ginny told them, smiling, 'but I'm definitely not looking forward to Slughorn's Christmas Party.'

'He's having a party?' Jimmy asked, looking interested again suddenly.

'For those of us in the Slug-Club, yes,' Ginny told him.

'Slug-Club?' Ritchie repeated, looking confused.

Ginny sighed. 'That's what he calls it,' she said, 'it's basically made up of students who are famous, like Harry Potter, or know someone or are connected to someone who are famous, like that idiot Zabini from Slytherin and his mother-'

'Who do you know that's famous?' Ritchie asked curiously, attempting to think on the spot of someone famous with the last name Weasley.

'No one,' Ginny said flatly, 'he saw me hex Zacharias Smith at the start of the year - so I suppose he also takes on students that he sees has a potential for talent.'

'Oh well that's why he hasn't asked you to one of these parties yet, Ritchie,' Jimmy said smartly, forcing Ginny to stifle a giggle.

'And I suppose your invite was lost in the post?' Ritchie snapped back, making Jimmy roll his eyes.

'I'm a gentleman,' he said proudly, sitting up straight, 'I do not hex and tell, Rich.'

'When is this party, then?' Ritchie asked Ginny, ignoring his friend.

'Last day of term,' Ginny groaned, putting her head in her hands. 'I don't really want to go,' she said, 'you're suppose to bring a guest, and after breaking up with Dean, I now have no one to go with me-'

'I'll go with you,' Jimmy said automatically without thinking.

Ginny peered at him through the gaps of her fingers, looking rather taken-aback; Ritchie sat up straight suddenly in his seat, looking from Ginny to a slightly horrified Jimmy, knowing well and good that this was a moment to recognise in their growing friendship.

'You will?' Ginny asked, pulling her hands away from her face and looking at him expectantly.

'Certainly I will,' Jimmy said, although a little more shakily than what he had said previous to that, he tried to stay calm as he continued talking. 'Ritchie could always take a break from me... and I mean...' he did not want to be too forward with her, 'we could go just as friends... but if you don't want me too...'

Ginny raised an eyebrow, looked from Jimmy, to Ritchie (who was holding back a smirk) and back to Jimmy.

'No, I do,' Ginny said, still looking rather discombobulated at this arrangement, 'I mean, yes I would love for you to go with me- but I think, just as friends-'

'Just as friends,' Jimmy repeated, nodding and smiling, 'absolutely.'


	7. Colour Me Impressed

07 - Colour Me Impressed

'_Just as friends_,' Jimmy had been repeating this phrase all week, but never as frequently as he had today, just mere hours before he was due to put on his Dress Robes and go on a date with Ginny Weasley. 'What idiot invented that phrase, anyway? What does that even mean?'

'I think it means you're not allowed to take off her dress,' Ritchie said, who had enjoyed watching his friend torture himself all week with these words.

'Why not?' Jimmy barked impatiently, 'I've already seen her with her dress off. Technically.'

They had just finished their last lesson for the day, Double Potions, and after managing to avoid poisoning themselves, they emerged into the crowded Entrance Hall and began fighting their way through the sea of students, heading for the Great Hall. They managed to find their usual spot at the back of the hall on the Gryffindor table and so sat down to eat dinner.

'I don't think I can eat any of this,' Jimmy said sourly as he looked up and down the table full of all sorts of plates of food, 'I'd just throw it all up.'

'They might have appetisers at this party you're going to,' Ritchie told him, and as he was feeling quite hungry he reached out and grabbed everything that looked appealing to him within reach.

'Maybe,' Jimmy sighed and looked up and down the table again.

Ginny was not there, nor had she been at lunch or breakfast (at least when they had been there) - in fact, Ginny had not sat with them or been at another meal since the morning Jimmy had offered to go to the party with her (again, at least during the time they were there). If it weren't for the fact that he had seen her come through the portrait hole last night, give a little wave in their direction, then disappear up to the girls dormitory, then he would have seriously debated that she was still at Hogwarts.

'I'm sure she's just really busy,' Ritchie had reassured him after Jimmy had pointed this out, 'she's doing OWLs remember? She must have ten times as much homework as we do and probably can't afford to sit and help us struggle to remember planet movements anymore - I'm actually surprised she helped at all for those few weeks that she did, it was really nice of her.'

Jimmy hated it when his friend made sense, and so once Ritchie had finished eating, they made their way up to Gryffindor tower, and Jimmy stopped expecting to see Ginny around every corner. They did go past Harry Potter though, looking quite dishevelled and odd with a single bright-yellow eyebrow that was obviously from a Transfiguration accident. They quickly understood why he had doubled-back past them though, for along the seventh-floor corridor stood a wall of girls, conveniently standing under a branch of mistletoe and waiting for Harry to approach them.

Jimmy and Ritchie had no such fear, for as they approached, noses curled, eyes rolled and the sea of girls parted, allowing them both to walk through and access the portrait of the Fat Lady freely.

'That Romilda Vane is pretty determined,' Jimmy said to Ritchie after they'd dumped their school bags upstairs and were sitting in some chairs by the windows, watching her hover around the portrait hole with a branch of her own mistletoe, waiting for Harry to come through it.

'She scares me,' Ritchie muttered, looking quite disturbed as the portrait hole opened and Romilda quickly ducked behind a group of confused looking first-years.

But it was not Harry Potter who climbed through the portrait hole, but in fact Ginny Weasley.

Jimmy suddenly sat bolt upright as Ginny spotted them and made a beam line for them, Romilda looked very disappointed and returned her attention back to the portrait hole.

'Hi,' Ginny said brightly; she didn't sit down, she rearranged the position of her backpack over her shoulder and brushed aside her long main of silky red hair, 'I've been looking for you two, you weren't down at dinner-'

'You weren't down at dinner,' Jimmy corrected her immediately, making her raise an eyebrow.

'I was so,' she ensured him with a half-smile, 'albeit a little late. I just wanted to tell you to meet me down here at eight o'clock, alright?'

Jimmy nodded. 'Eight o'clock. Got it.'

'I'm going to go get ready,' she waved to them both and skipped away up the girls staircase.

'Shouldn't you go get ready too?' Ritchie asked him curiously.

'Nah, I got time,' Jimmy said, and they both looked over at the clock in the corner that just chimed seven. 'So what are you going to be doing tonight?'

Ritchie shrugged.

'I don't know, maybe do homework?' he said sadly.

But just as he had said that, there was a tapping at the window beside them, and they both looked around to see a large barn owl covered in snow, carrying two packages.

'Excellent!' Ritchie said, moving forward to let the owl into the common room, it hooted dolefully as a "thank you" and stuck out its leg.

It was the mail order for the two packets of Chocolate Frogs Ritchie had ordered - he had been looking up expectantly every morning that week at breakfast, when the owls arrived with the daily post, hoping that his order would arrive before Christmas and he began to think it would not. Now that it had, he was quite ecstatic, so much so that he shook a little as he pulled them free from the owl.

'Well I guess that answers my question,' Jimmy said, as they owl flew back out the window and he turned his gaze back on Romilda Vane.

Just at that moment, Harry entered the common room with Ron Weasley behind him, and Romilda took the opportunity to strike. She jumped in front of him, threw the mistletoe up in the air, closed her eyes and leaned in to kiss Harry. But he was ready for it, and with his Seeker reflexes side-stepped out of the way and Romilda swung at fresh air - Harry though tripped on a chair leg and ended up eating the carpet, Ron roared with laughter in response.

* * *

An hour later, the clock that Jimmy and Ritchie sat next to, struck eight o'clock, and Jimmy now stood nervously against it, wearing his sleek-black dress robes with a white shirt underneath and white bow tie. He had been standing there fussing over his collar, which despite Ritchie telling him it was perfectly fine, kept fiddling with it. Ritchie had already opened one of the boxes of chocolate frogs, and was pacing himself, whislt he read a rather heavy book about Quidditch in foreign countries.

'Stop it,' Ritchie hissed at him, as Jimmy started fiddling with his collar again.

'I can't get it... to stay... flat,' Jimmy hissed, tugging at it over and over again.

'At least you don't have a problem like that with your hair,' Ritchie pointed out, who himself had frizzy hair.

'How am I suppose to impress her if this collar won't stay down?' Jimmy practically barked.

'Maybe it's the person in the dress robes that ultimately impresses her, not the dress robes themselves?'

Both Jimmy and Ritchie looked up in surprise. In amidst his haste to play with his collar, Jimmy had not noticed that Ginny had descended the girls staircase and approached them. She looked... breath taking.

She wore a deep-green dress that was of light material, it had black strips in a v-shape on her chest, shoulders and around her waist - silver opals were pinned along these strips presumably to hold it into place. She had curled her silky red waist-length hair to the point that it suited her, as well as a butterfly clip holding her fringe which had been slightly parted; she also had a necklace he had never seen before, one that simply wrote "Gin" in loopy-writing, and Jimmy wondered if she had always worn that.

'You look beautiful,' Jimmy said, taking a step forward, 'but I missed the whole pretty-looking-girl-comes-down-the-staircase bit.'

Ginny giggled a little but did not reply.

'I love your dress,' Ritchie said slightly awkwardly, not sure exactly what to say.

But she smiled in response.

'Thanks Ritchie-' she spotted the two packages of Chocolate Frogs, 'good lord, you had better not finish those while we're gone.'

'No, I know, I'm done, I think, one more and I'll put them away,' Ritchie mumbled, fumbling with the dozen or so empty packets now at his feet.

'Listen, what I said about impressing you,' Jimmy said to Ginny, as they made their way along the seventh floor corridor a few minutes later, 'I didn't mean- I just meant -'

'It's fine, Jimmy,' she assured him, putting her arm through his and pulling him closer.

'I just, I don't want to make you look like a fool,' Jimmy went on, Ginny's action barely registering with him, 'in front of your friends I mean. They must think you're weird for befriending me-'

'Then let them think that,' Ginny said strongly with a smile, as she guided him through the secret passageway and shortcut to take them down one level and to Slughorn's office.

'You're not worried what they might think?' Jimmy asked her as they paused halfway up the corridor, the sounds of laughter, music and loud conversation carrying toward them. 'What they might say when they see you with me? Even if we are just going as friends-?'

'Jimmy Peakes, you are an odd person sometimes,' Ginny told him truthfully, the smile never leaving her face, 'you are funny, smart, reasonably good looking - and I use reasonably very lightly - you are an excellent Quidditch player and you're best friend is willing to sacrifice himself to a night of eating chocolate alone so that you can accompany someone - you kind of, sort of fancy? - to a party.'

'Wait, you think that I-'

'If there's any reason why any of my friends might talk about us behind my back,' she went on, still smiling sweetly, 'it's because they are jealous. Forget what they may or may not think, let's just go enjoy the party - I missed eating dinner in my haste to find you and I'm famished- I think I smell appetisers...'

Reinvigorated by Ginny's words, and with his own stomach complaining that he had skipped dinner also, he nodded and took her arm again and lead her into the party. The crowded room resembled a large tent, draped with so much red and gold that it would have been forgiven to mistake it for a Gryffindor orientated party - there were not just students and teachers in the room, but famous guests that proved Ginny's point about it being a certain type of club.

Some Jimmy recognised, like a couple of the Weird Sisters, others he did not - without it really bothering him either way, he grabbed a Butterbeer each for them and then followed Ginny across the room after she decided it was best to let Professor Slughorn know that she had at least attended.

'Hello Ginevra, m'lady,' Slughorn said happily, ignoring Jimmy, 'so glad you could make it!'

'Good evening, Professor,' Ginny said politely back, 'this is my friend, Jimmy Peakes. Gryffindor, fourth-year-'

'Peakes... Peakes...' Slughorn repeated, his large belly wobbled as his mind boggled for an answer. 'Ahh yes, you and that Cootes sit at the back of my classes, don't you boy?'

'Who? Oh, yeah, Ritchie-'

'Peakes... hmm... I'm afraid that name doesn't ring much of a bell in the old noggin,' Slughorn said, his belly still wobbling as he tapped the top of his head with one of his large podgy finger, 'but it might just take a few moments too- Oho! You aren't perhaps a distant relation to Glanmore Peakes? Of Scotland Locke?'

'No, sorry,' Jimmy replied fruitlessly.

'Oh well, no matter, no matter,' Slughorn said, but he turned back to Ginny rather quickly, 'do enjoy the party, Miss Weasley, I think you might find some joy in meeting some guests? Why, no better to start with these two who-'

He looked as gestured to his right, but there was nothing but a table full of sandwiches and empty goblets.

'Oh, well, now where have they-' and then Slughorn paused and his eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. 'Harry, m'boy!'

Jimmy and Ginny turned to watch Slughorn's large frame move through the sea of people to reach the entrance, where Harry had just appeared through, accompanied by Luna. Jimmy got that feeling back from before, which involved him being out of place at such a prestige party, and highly doubting himself again that he deserved to be standing beside such a beautiful redhead.

But Ginny clicked her tongue impatiently, called Slughorn a "fat, old, power hungry idiot" and picked up another sandwich from the table.

'Come on, Jimmy,' she said sternly, still glaring after Slughorn, 'let's go talk to someone who doesn't care if your last name is Peakes or _Potter_.'


	8. Relationship Status: It's Complicated

08 - Relationship Status: It's Complicated

After they had mingled with the other guests for quite a while, Ginny had taken Jimmy out onto the terrace and decided that freezing to death was much better than hearing one more person talk in disbelief over her choice of a friend to accompany her to the party. They leaned on the railing and looked out over the dark snowy grounds of the school, where the light barely reached the boundaries of the Quidditch stadium, and it looked kind of cool where the white and black mixed.

Jimmy was reminiscent of last week, after the Quidditch match, where he and Ritchie had lay out in the middle of the pitch, talking about the game and wondering if Ginny was back with Dean. It was quite ironic that he now stood here beside her, after all of his doubt, all of his uncertainty that he might never get the chance to tell her how he felt. But despite the fact it seemed like the right time, despite the fact she had given him a long-winded speech of praise before the party, he had to remember that he had promised to come just as friends, and so no matter the temptation, no matter the moment, he was going to make sure he kept that promise.

He saw Ginny shiver suddenly out the corner of his eye, bringing him out of his reverie and in response he pulled off his jacket.

'You're cold,' he said, gentlemanly offering her his jacket, 'here.'

'Thanks,' she said as he slipped it over her shoulders. 'You didn't need too-'

'Nonsense. That's what friends are for.'

She smiled and they grew quiet again, the sounds of music and chatter behind them was very muffled - with his jacket off, Jimmy began to grow cold himself, but her was determined not to show it.

'So tell me,' Ginny said once she'd stopped shivering. 'What does Jimmy Peakes want to do with himself when he leaves Hogwarts?'

Jimmy raised his eyebrows - he had not expected her to ask that, of all things.

'Me?' he asked stupidly, making Ginny give him a look. 'I'm going to be a comedian, that's the life for me. Stay up all night, abuse my liver with alcohol, and live off fifteen minutes of jokes.'

Ginny burst out laughing.

'You see, I just start talking and people practically fall over laughing,' Jimmy said pointedly, a wicked grin on his face.

'You idiot,' she said, shaking her head.

'Well I have no idea,' Jimmy explained to her, 'what do youplan on doing, then?' Jimmy asked her in return, turning to lean on the railing with one arm so he could face her. 'Modelling?'

'Modelling?' Ginny repeated, her nose curled. 'Please-'

'Yeah I agree,' Jimmy interrupted, 'you're far too good looking to model.'

Ginny glared at him again, a smile beginning to twitch onto her lips. 'I would like to play Quidditch,' she said truthfully, finally, 'ideally,' she added with a shrug. 'I'm afraid I may not be good enough-'

'Bollocks,' Jimmy snapped in reply.

'Excuse me?' Ginny looked at him alarm.

'You're sensational at Quidditch,' Jimmy said to her, 'you could get a game for Puddlemere United right now, no worries-'

'They are the top team,' Ginny pointed out, but as if Jimmy didn't know that. 'And just because Oliver Wood plays for them-'

'It has nothing to do with him,' Jimmy retorted, 'you're as good as them, definitely. You scored half of our score last week - minus the Snitch of course - you would get a game at any club, least of all Puddlemere.'

'I'd prefer the Holyhead Harpies,' Ginny said with a sudden look of exuberance on her face, 'no boys to spy on you when you're getting changed then.'

Jimmy felt his stomach drop completely at these words. He stared at her blankly, hardly daring to believe what she'd just said - but much to his surprise, Ginny had not turned to look at him as if expecting to see a reaction, nor did she at any point indicate to whom she might have been referring.

Instead, she continued to stare out over the dark grounds, looking rather serious and letting out a long sigh.

'And then if I can't do that,' she went on, as though what she had just said meant nothing, 'I'd like to do something that involves Quidditch, maybe be a reporter? Or I could be a journalist or some sort of sports writer for the Daily Prophet.'

She finally looked around at him, and he attempted to keep his straight face and serious after just having a semi-heart attack from her words about boys spying on her.

'Me too,' he said with am eventual nod, 'but my dad always told me that the Ministry of Magic was somewhere all Wizards and Witches should work at least once, so one of the departments there?'

Ginny nodded and smiled at him - he wished she didn't keep doing that, his stomach dropped every time.

'Do you think we've been anti-social for long enough?' Ginny asked him, indicating the party that was going on behind them. 'Should we return to the battlefield?'

'I suppose we should,' Jimmy sighed, turning toward the terrace doors.

Before he turned the handle, Ginny put a small hand on his elbow.

'I'm glad you're here, Jimmy,' she said quietly, 'it has made the evening so much easier.'

* * *

After putting up with much wailing and gnashing of teeth, the two of them were glad to rid themselves of Slughorn's party, and they spent the time it took them to get back to the Gryffindor common room humorously coming up with alternative names for the Slug-Club. After clambering through the portrait hole, they came to a halt at the bottom of the spiral staircase.

Jimmy made a mental note to himself right there that this was not a date, and that they had both promised one another that they would be going to the party just as friends. But some of the things that she had said to him over the course of the night, the little subtle hints she embedded into the sentences she had been putting together - Jimmy was a little confused about it all.

Was she trying to tell him something?

Did Ginny perhaps let slip a few things she perhaps didn't mean too? Did she maybe have a few feelings for him bottled up inside her, like he did her? Or - and this was probably the most likely of all of them - was he just over-reacting and hearing words he wanted to hear, when said words weren't actually coming out of her mouth at all?

But whether any of that meant anything substantial or not, nothing perplexed him more about the night than what happened next.

'I had a really great time tonight,' she told him, smiling, and casually taking his hand to squeeze.

'Me too,' Jimmy replied just as casually.

'Thanks for going with me,' she added seriously, 'it would have been boring otherwise.'

'You're welcome,' he said even more seriously, and as he attempted to pull his hand away from hers he said, 'well, goodn-'

'Wait,' Ginny whispered.

She kept her grip on him tightly and Jimmy looked down at where their hands met - and then he looked up at her in response, wondering what else she could possibly want. But she was not looking at him, not directly at least - she was instead focused on a point about a foot over his head - and to his disbelief, when he looked up, what might be hung down from the ceiling directly in line with the boys staircase was-

'Mistletoe,' Ginny's voice sounded as disbelieving as Jimmy felt.

Ginny ran her hands up to his shoulders, pushed herself up slightly so that she stood on her toes and so that they were eye-level - and then she leaned forward and their lips met.

Suddenly everything around him was moving in slow-motion - his mind may have been racing, his heart beating a thousand miles per hour - but time itself came to a crashing halt. What was probably the most fleeting of moments, seem to last forever - he had time to smell her, taste her and be fully aware that his hands were touching her.

But then, just as suddenly, it was over.

And oddly everything sped up; Ginny's face went slightly pink as she bid him goodnight, her hand did not let go of his until the very point where they could no longer reach one another, and before he knew it, he was standing there, completely alone, attempting to figure out what had just happened.

And he found himself utterly confused as ever over what exactly the meaning of the words "just as friends" were.


End file.
